2012. A Personal Reflection.

Years go by so quickly now, and often I forget all the happens in the past year. It is good to sit back and think about how God has blessed us and worked in various ways in times past. It is so cool to look back see the story he wove, and know he is still doing that today. So here is my personal reflection of 2012.


To be honest, 2012 started pretty normal, and became something Epic. I had studies and working on the car in the spring. That lasted throughout the year, and I have a month left, Lord willing, for both.
   The first thing I remember about 2012 was attending TeenPact Staff Training in Oklahoma. The week taught me so much in learning how to lead, direct, and manage others. I also learned a ton about showing Christ in every action, and the importance of daily disciplines in spending time with him. I met some great guys there, and still talk to some today.
   In March playing Ultimate Frisbee was the main event. I led a small team in our homeschool league. We came out in first place with a 9-3 record. It was a great experience of stretching my physical limits and maintaining good sportsmanship as a leader of a team. Not so much in losing, but remaining humble in the winning. Here is a video I made advertising the 2013 season.

 Also in the spring I was blessed to be able to co-direct "Much ado about Nothing" with my past History Discussion teacher. She rocks and we had a lot of fun. We might be doing count of Monte Cristo this year. Really looking forward to that. All depending on finishing my degree...
   I was able to staff in the TeenPact program for my state and put that training to use. Even though I felt mildy prepared, I truly did not know what was going to happen or what I was going to do, which was a huge growing experience. It stretched me spiritually and taught me about servant leadership in ways I didn't think possible. I also learned about flexibility and to enjoy the changes which God put in front of us each day. Just to make sure we knew He was ultimately in charge and not us. We did presentations, field experiences, and fellowshipped with the students. All of the activities were focused on building better servant leaders equipped to engage the culture in which they live. Some great pics and videos of that week are here:
Illinois TeenPact 2012 Memories
   The Last activity of note in the Spring was going to TeenPact National Convention. If you haven't noticed, this leadership school has shaped me immensely in the past few years. We went up as a small group of friends, and came home more like brothers and sisters, with all the annoyances too. :D The theme of that year was "GO". Expounding upon the principle taught in 2011, which was actively and patiently waiting, 2012 focused on GOing and moving in the direction God is leading you. Very deep and cool stuff.

Then came Summer, and with it came Australia. Originally we planned to go to China, but it didn't work out. Australia was truly one of the most amazing experiences ever. The amount of things we saw, did, and experienced most will never do in their life time. Diving on the great barrier reef, seeing the twelve apostles, and touring the Sydney opera house were just some of the things we did. I have a few more posts about Australia I will eventually add here, but all of our adventures are tagged with "Australia" below. 

Then we had to come back home and face reality once again. Fall brought to me the wall of College and needing to complete it. Quickly. So all through September, October, November, and now December I worked on Tests, courses, and finals. By the grace of God,  and a lot of hard work I now only have four tests remaining. All of which I plan to complete this month. It is going to be a hard long haul, but I believe it is possible. Then I will be finished with my degree.

So there is a synopsis of 2012 and how I lived it. Very full and very rich. I feel so incredibly blessed to be living this life which has been given to me, I truly cannot wait to see what is in store for this year.